produces SoCal arts and culture coverage and news podcast Imperfect Paradise for LAist's on-demand team.
With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong,It’s been nearly a decade since the premier of Stranger Things , the science-fiction Netflix hit from the twin-filmmakers, the Duffer Brothers.
The final season is now getting its release, and what started as a small-town mystery is now a world-threatening big budget adventure — with special effects to match. To find out how do all those explosions, flying cars and '80s gadgets come alive on screen, LAist host Julia Paskin talked with Shane Dzicek, this season's special effects designer.Stranger ThingsOne of the things that I was excited to work on was a device that Steve actually has in the squawk van. It's this great device that counts from zero to 99. I put in an alpha numerical display. Back in the ‘80s, they might have used different tech…And the original one weighed like 35, 40 pounds. So I hollowed the ones that we remade from scratch. So that way, Steve could have this thing with him and not have to worry about the weight. A screengrab from the "Stranger Things" season 5 trailer. Special effects designer Shane Dzicek created the decibel system device to the right of Joe Keery's character Steve Harrington.In the trailer, there's the truck with demogorgons on top of it. And you did some work on that. Can you tell us about that as well?Murray was driving the truck. need to be able to act. They need to have cameras right there, so you can't always have this all strapped on a big truck or on a process trailer moving down the road. So we built rigs that we can move the trucks around be able to do any type of heavy riding, if there's big bumps they gotta go over, if you gotta move and flip the truck over any of that type. A screengrab from the trailer for "Stranger Things" Season 5. Special effects designer Shane Dzicek rigged the truck to withstand heavy riding.But when it comes to special effects, Dzicek is optimistic about his field withstanding AI’s threats to job security. is a powerful tool. I'll probably end up seeing directors and producers and creative people that might be using it as references, being like:"Hey, I AI generated a thing now. I need you to make this come to life and be physical and practical." So I don't see AI necessarily taking that practical part of making this a real thing. That takes a lot of just ingenuity and years of education on how to fabricate and build things and bring all these elements together to create a working prop. The other thing is you gotta train AI on the knowledge that we have. And kind of knowledge is all handed by word of mouth. It's not written down anywhere. So good luck trying to protect that. Good luck trying to get the information out of all of us.If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.At LAist, we focus on what matters to our community: clear, fair, and transparent reporting that helps you make decisions with confidence and keeps powerful institutions accountable.With federal funding for public media gone, LAist faces a $1.7 million yearly shortfall. Speaking frankly, how much reader support we receive now will determine the strength of this reliable source of local information now and for years to come. This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else.Megan GarveyTraffic congestion record
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